


Crown Of Fire

by somethingfullofangst (sram)



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Bad Plot, Bangtan gang, Changkyun is searching for himself, Jooheon owns a bar, M/M, Mafia Mentality, Mentioned BTS - Freeform, Top Lim Changkyun | I.M, Top Shin Hoseok | Wonho, Top Yoo Kihyun, actual changki, again what plot, bar/club question mark, everyone tops, hoseok x jooheon, idk - Freeform, kpop, mentioned changho, multifandom - Freeform, somebody's gonna bottom, the family, was i going for mob or yakuza, what is plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-07-06 08:10:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15882051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sram/pseuds/somethingfullofangst
Summary: Veni, vidi, vici.Changkyun came to have a good old cliche time. He didn't come to make his bar owner best friend hate him, or to make the aforementioned bar owner's brother fall in love with him.But before he realizes it he's joined the local mafia in search of troubled youths, has a sweet gangster boyfriend, and actually owns a decent suit which his parents didn't have to force him into. But bit by bit, Kihyun goes from a supposed psychopathic gangster, to the softest man Changkyun knows"I took his crown of fire.and I crushed it with my hands."





	1. I Dated A Bartender Once.

Wonder if any of the princesses ever had as hard a time as our main character, Changkyun Im? Probably not. Their love lives were written in the stars. But for Changkyun, however, his has already ended before it began. The stars have already collapsed, shattered, burned so bright they faded from view.

In throwing away a lot just to be with the older 25-year-old bartender he met on actual Tinder, he’s learned one of two things. Firstly never fall in love with a bartender, they get paid to make you feel better for one night (or two if you’re daring to show your face again). And secondly, never propose to a man (under some heavy influences) who has been married to his work since you met him. Or at least pretending to be, while he goes on dates with other hot available guys (and gals) in your area.

Yep. That’s right. Changkyun did propose to the bartender he met off of Tinder. They dated for three months before this; he was under the influence of several different influences, some of which are still illegal so he can’t mention them. 

But it was a ballsy move even for a man drunk and high out of his wits. Even worse? He did it while his boyfriend was on another Tinder date he wasn’t even supposed to know about. He kind of just stumbled into it and while he was committing to jamming a gumball machine ring on his boyfriend’s finger, the date returned from the restroom with an incredulous look on her face. 

“What the hell is this?” She barked with this Australian-ish accent, and suddenly Hoseok was caught between a fake rock and an even faker set of boobs. Changkyun didn’t even know he was bi, not with the way they took turns fucking each other into the mattress, but hey you live and learn.

“Ugh, HOSEOK!” Changkyun sobs around a mouthful of angel food cake and regret. “That muscled bastard! That freaking… that… Basted. He was good. So good.”

“I’m sorry.” Jooheon sighs, voice devoid of emotion while he watches his friend sob on _his_ bar that he’s just finished polishing. “You want me to say I told you so? Because I went to college with the guy. I know him as much as I know you, you probably forced him into the relationship with some type of deceitful trick.”

“Jooheon you shit, I’m having a moment right now. I just got dumped without ever actually being dumped.”

“You legitimately proposed to a guy you were screwing for three months.”

“He was a good fuck, but you wouldn’t know that because you’re saving yourself for some kind of saint in human skin, right?” Changkyun seethes before slamming his head back down on the counter. “Maybe if I waited for a prince instead of a royal fool I’d actually find someone that cares about me.”

“How many drugs are you on right now?” Jooheon checks something off of his shopping list, “I’m sorry- I meant how many were you on?”

“Yes.” comes Changkyun’s muffled reply, and then they fall into one of those silences that are like too awkward for anyone to break so they let it stay as such until at last Jooheon continues berating him.

“Honestly why do you let Minhyuk talk you into doing so many weird things? Losing your virginity, trying synthetic drugs, running around city hall naked… Is he paying you off or something?”

“He’s just a really good guy?” Changkyun phrases it unsurely as he thinks over all the strange things he’s done because of this dude. Admittedly the drugs part was a bad idea, and the city hall thing would’ve landed him in jail if he’d done it during daytime operating hours. But losing the virginity- “He isn’t that bad actually. He IS a good guy. You’d like him if you stopped trying to villainize everything that he does.”

“Are you saying you ship me with your crazy friend?” Jooheon guffaws, “As if! I actually have standards, unlike some people around here.”

“I’ve got standards too. I just lose my way when I get lonely.” Changkyun is pouting now, face still smushed against the cold hard bar like a comforting embrace, since Jooheon isn’t going to pat him on the back and tell him everything is okay. 

Later on that night after Changkyun has devoured the entire Angel food cake and he’s resting on one of the plush couches in the VIP area, Jooheon wakes him with a warning. “We’re opening soon. Don’t be surprised if you wake up with balls in your face or something.”

“I love waking up with balls in my-” 

Jooheon is gone, ducking as he goes down the spiral staircase and back into the open flooring of the club. Admittedly Jooheon has worked his ass off for all of this (he’s still working for it too). He’s not a Cinderella, or a Snow White, or a Sleeping Beauty. There isn’t a man responsible for his happy ending, no financial support and no sweet love story that lulls him to sleep. He’s doing it all on his own. And with some investments from his mom, but he doesn’t like talking about that so it’s fine.

Changkyun didn’t come to know Jooheon until about a year ago. He stumbled into this club alone one night, and Jooheon was the only person working the counter between a crowd full of rowdy drunk customers, drunker than Changkyun, so they acting a lot more asshole-ish.

Changkyun observed as some of the people left without paying for their drinks, how some of them frowned in distaste and just left the half-empty glass on the counter entirely. Because Jooheon isn’t a bartender or a security guard. He’s a businessman. A sleep-deprived businessman who just wants this shit to be over with already so he can take a nap and wake up next year to never. 

It wasn’t until three months into visiting this place that Jooheon recognized him as a regular, as someone that was actually paying for and downing the entire contents of his drinks. This was when Changkyun asked him, “Why did you open a club? You don’t even know what you’re doing.”

“After you turn eighteen you don’t know how to be an adult, you just are, and suddenly nothing makes sense and you just want to cry yourself to sleep every night.” Jooheon shudders as the unpleasant words leave his mouth before he smiles and it’s the first time Changkyun has seen those dimples, gentle craters on Jooheon’s skin. “Maybe I’m going to fail, and it’s gonna hurt, sure. But I enjoy it. I enjoy being here. And you enjoy being here too, right? Or else you wouldn’t keep drinking this garbage.”

Changkyun doesn’t ask if Jooheon has a liquor license, he’s too scared of what the guy might say. If you’re just flinging all of your savings from childhood into a business that may sail for a short while, but catch fire like Icarus when it gets too close to the light, then you must be slightly unhinged.

Eventually Jooheon was making just enough to hire a real bartender, cue Hoseok, they were friends so it worked out fairly well. But Changkyun should’ve met him in person instead of via Tinder. It was a hookup turned disaster from day one. They slept together one night, and the next Hoseok was making him a drink that another man ordered for him. And Hoseok is going to be here for a lot longer. So it’s gonna be really awkward.

Changkyun sinks further into the cheap velvet couch as he tosses to his side in an attempt to get comfortable, he doesn’t realize all of these things are futile until the loud music starts blaring from the overhead speakers (Jooheon hung himself, so one day they may very well nosedive onto someone’s head and catch a lawsuit, but they work well so that’s all that matters.) It’s a poppy tune that he recognizes from the radio. Everyone and their mother listens to songs like this. 

He sighs tiredly and swings his legs round to the floor and then he sits up. Watches from behind the rickety metal railings as people come pooling in. It wasn’t always like this, maybe twenty to thirty guests a night. Those people considered themselves some sort of hipster saints, ushering in a new era for all of the people that hadn’t been there yet, or tried the rustic little drinks (the few Jooheon could make from countless hours of Youtube sessions coupled with trial and error.)

The VIP area is rarely used or reserved for VIPs, real famous people have real famous places to go to, and instead Jooheon rents the couches out for 15$ bucks per person every ten minutes. Steep enough to keep the freaks at bay, but cheap enough to invite the ones that are truly daring or so drunk they don’t realize how much money that equals after an hour.

Anyway, Changkyun has never seen any real VIPs in this area. He doesn’t even remember what VIP stands for until Jooheon comes running excitedly up the stairs so fast that he hits his head on the little ceiling right beneath the platform. “Get up fool.” Jooheon whacks Changkyun across the forehead with his little waist apron. “We have a _real_ VIP today! Come on, up!”

Changkyun reluctantly slides off the couch using Jooheon as a support system when he stands. His legs are numb from laying there crookedly for so long, so it takes a bit of stretching before he trusts them to stumble down the stairs without causing his untimely demise. 

When he reaches the bottom there is a group of three men decked in all black standing in a weird circular barrier around another man, eclipsed by their muscular bodies. Changkyun only catches sight of a pale forehead and dark windswept bangs. 

He almost hops a little as they pass so that he can get a good look at this small fellow, but Jooheon drops a heavy hand on his shoulder and bows deeply at the waist, forcing Changkyun down to his level in the end until they pass, When they’ve made it all the up the stairs, Changkyun’s imaginary tail is wagging. 

“Is he so rich that we have to bow for him? So rich that we pay him for just being in our presence?”

“We? I’m sorry unless you pick up a broom and get to work, there is no ‘I’ in ‘We’ and ‘I’ don’t have to tell you shit. Get lost, bum.” Jooheon flicks his wrist towards the exit and then struts off towards the counter excitedly. His platinum colored hair bounces, all of the product stiffening it to a point of almost looking fake. But still, his entire body exuberates joy. He’s humming and shaking his hips to the radio behind the counter as he pulls out his most expensive whiskey from a safe under the counter. 

Changkyun leans over the edge of the marbling and peers at the bottle excitedly. Jooheon hadn’t touched this since his father gifted to him as a way of saying “Good job,” so this guest must be very important. Changkyun goes from wagging his imaginary tail to completely wagging his entire backside. “Jooheon please-”

“You’ve already nailed my only real employee, now you want to nail my very first VIP too?”

“Not true. The cleaning company you hired recently-”

“No, Changkyun. Go fill all of your empty holes with something less vulgar.” Jooheon hushes him quickly, so is the persisting norm for this bickering duo, and then speeds off to deliver the drink to his VIP.

Changkyun catches on rather quickly that Jooheon has neglected to collect any glasses. For a group consisting of four people, sharing one bottle would be more than just freaky. It would be… Ugh, it would be sick. Changkyun bumps into Hoseok as he’s snatching the sparkliest cleanest looking glasses off the shelf a little too high for him to reach, and Hoseok grabs them with ease by just slightly reaching over Changkyun, and helps him lower them down into his sweaty grip so that he doesn’t drop any of them. 

Really, Changkyun is on a mission so he shouldn’t focus on Hoseok’s cheap smelling cologne filling his nostrils, but he’s backed into a literal corner when he turns around and all he sees is Hoseok’s black shirt unbuttoned around the neck and exposing fresh misshapen hickeys. Changkyun scoffs, “Couldn’t wait to bury the hatchet..”

“A hatchet I never wanted to bury,” Hoseok shoots back just as firm and full of the same amount of venom, “I liked you, I still do. But a relationship was just… Not for me. Especially not… Marriage.”

Changkyun revels in the way Hoseok seems to be going through physical pain trying to imagine himself in a committed relationship involving real feelings. It’s great to watch such a fine man suffer like this, but Changkyun remembers he is on a mission and shoves Hoseok’s chest as hard as he can with his free hand. 

“Don’t sweat it, bro.” Changkyun pulls his best American accent. “Had I not been tripping off Minhyuk’s concoction the other night, and had you not been screwing Stephanie from Australia, we probably would have lasted another week or two. Didn’t want it to end either: but I also don’t like it when people play with my leftovers, especially not a Stephanie from Australia.”

“Stephanie from London.” Hoseok corrects bitterly, but Changkyun has already broken out into a mini-jog to make it to the stairs, where one of the bodyguard-esque man is blocking the staircase with his tall beefy body. Well, doing his job I suppose, but it’s an annoyance for Changkyun. 

“Just delivering these glasses.” Changkyun hoists them up from the sweaty pits of his arm. The guard quirks an eyebrow, struggling to keep his lips stoically pressed together.

“Don’t think they’re going to need ‘em,” he grumbles back in an unfamiliar accent. “You can go back to the bar.”

“But the boss asked for them?” Changkyun mocks confusion. “Gee, why would he ask for something he doesn’t need…”

The man loses his composure and cracks a wide grin from ear to ear. “That so?” and he steps to the side to allow Changkyun entry, “Your boss and my boss are different men,” he mumbles behind Changkyun, and if only Changkyun would’ve listened to this-

He doesn’t even realize what he’s walking in on when he reaches the top of the stairs and Jooheon’s ass is right in front of his face, as he’s kneeling forehead-to-ground with both of his hands clasped together in front of him. Changkyun accidentally utters “what theee fuuuck” before anyone pays any attention to him. 

Even Jooheon sits up and turns to face him with doe-y eyes, his pretty porcelain face stained with a sticky red liquid starting at his hairline, his deep dimples a pool for it to gather in while it runs down his face. And his smile is bitter, but it doesn’t hide the tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. Changkyun springs up and wraps his friend in a panicky hug, as he looks to what he expects is the perpetrator. “Yo what the heck I-”

Jooheon shushes him quickly; stuffs nearly an entire fist into his mouth to shut him up, though his body is rocking unsteadily as he does. 

The dark-haired man in the chair smiles. It would’ve been a lovely sight during any other occasion, but Changkyun has never seen anybody staring at a wounded Jooheon so smugly. He’s never even _seen_ Jooheon wounded before. He snatches Jooheon’s arm down and frees his lips so that he may continue what he was saying earlier, “First of all how dare you-” he starts with Jooheon first, but the way the other man whimpers infuriates him even more that he turns to the stranger instead prepared to unleash hell.

“Look here I’ll beat your ass, and then I’ll come back and beat his ass later. You want that? You want me to shove my foot so far up your goddamn anal canal that when I try to remove it you feel empty for the rest of your life?” 

The man looks startled to say the least. He uncrosses one leg just to cross the other one over it, and his mouth hangs ajar. Sitting next to him on the floor (on bended knee too, what the fuck) his lanky looking bodyguard stirs. “You’re not gonna talk to the boss like that!”

“I’ll beat your ass too, ya freak.” Changkyun flaps one of his oversized sleeves at the lanky guy like a bird warding off predators before he turns his attention back to the so-called ‘ boss’. Jooheon reaches up to stop him again but he’s already far too gone that he just slaps the weak hand back down. “I just wanted you to know that if you try to ruin my money-making face, I’ll eat yours off instead.”

“No.” Jooheon near sobs, either in disbelief or sadness; it’s something in between the two of those things. Like what the hell is Changkyun even saying. Jooheon knows he can’t fight. The closest thing he’s gotten to any kind of fight was Hoseok attempting to teach him karate before the fell hopelessly on the floor to, well, fuck. So not only does he remember how uncomfortable that felt to his body, but he also retained no knowledge of how to block a hit or brace for one he can’t avoid.

Anyway Jooheon’s bleeding, this bodyguard guy is staring at them like they’ve committed one of the deadliest sins known to mankind and now they gotta brawl to the end of the earth, or at least until someone dies. And then all of the sudden the boss speaks, his voice lilting to the ears. “I’m _Kihyun Yoo_ ”

 

“What? Are we in grade school? Alright, punk. I’m Changkyun Im.” Changkyun doesn’t even know where the fuel is coming from at this point, maybe it’s Jooheon’s rocking back and forth and sniffling his cries quiet? Or maybe Changkyun is still tripping off of Minhyuk The Campus Drug Guy’s weird combination? It’s been at least twenty four hours so….

The lanky guard gasps, the other one on the opposite side turns his head to hide a chuckle, and Jooheon finally just breaks out in tears and drops his forehead back to the floor. “Please please _please_ don’t kill him. I’ll do anything- any amount of money, or anything, just please don’t hurt him! He’s _stupid_ and he has _no_ friends, so nobody’s ever taught him how the real world is!”

Changkyun doesn’t hide his offense or his hurt at the suggestion that he doesn’t have any friends. Hell, Jooheon is literally crouched on the floor right now begging….. Begging for his life? Wait a second…… Changkyun gasps dramatically and then before his brain catches up to his body he slams his forehead down so hard that his vision goes black momentarily. 

“Well. Ugh. Damn.” Changkyun groans, rolling over on his side and knocking into Jooheon’s side. He stares at the pair of polished shoes, they look expensive, like real animal skin expensive. “Fuck. Shit. Is this a dangerous situation?” he mutters, and Jooheon only mewls like a broken cat in response.

Changkyun slinks a little as he attempts to scoot over to the stairs. Peace out, is what he wants to say, but now suddenly there’s a body blocking the exit as well, and now he’s just royally screwed. Especially after talking all that shit. Like. 

Worse of all is the party and the music is still blaring on. People downstairs dancing and grinding on each other. Some guy orders a drink for a girl who’s waiting for her boyfriend to get back from the restroom, she doesn’t tell him that, she doesn’t care. Changkyun stares through the same rusting rails that he always does when he’s sitting up there enjoying himself, except this time he’s on his knees, and the world doesn’t give a shit that he’s up there.

Admittedly his tongue worked him into this, and now, well, he turns to Jooheon and flashes a grin. “Who’s dick do I have to suck to get us out of this alive?”


	2. 11:11

Sometimes we say things we don’t mean. Children tell other children they don’t want to be friends anymore over the simplest things, angst-filled teens yell all the time about how much they hate their parents and wish they would just drop dead, and apparently as adults, we offer to suck someone off in exchange for our lives. We may not always say what we mean, so people need to stop holding us accountable for our words. 

Changkyun enters here. He is sitting on the floor on his knees staring up into Kihyun’s lovely caramel-y eyes, Jooheon is sat beside him in the same position, sniffling while he wipes the dried blood off his face using convenience-store wet wipes one of Kihyun’s henchmen brought up for him. 

Changkyun’s confused. Nobody’s tried to kill him yet, but does that mean that he’s safe? Kihyun’s been examining every single aspect of Changkyun’s existence right there in front of his eyes like he’s flipping through a dictionary with pictures and only stops to admire them. Changkyun gulps, and Kihyun watches his Adam's apple bobble. 

Just when Changkyun is starting to feel like he’s being undressed by millions of different eyes, Kihyun flashes him a sleazy smirk. “You okay? You’re sweating quite a bit.”

Glancing down at the darkening stains of his underarms in surprise, Changkyun laughs nervously. “Eh, well, ah. You know.”

“Eh, well? Ah? Can’t talk now? Cat got your tongue?” KIhyun shoots back mockingly. “Thought you were fucking stupid, but I guess not. Looks like you finally got it into that small goddamn brain of yours, Changkyunnie?” Kihyun smiles at Changkyun, something innocent and painful in the way that he maintains it while cursing so much. 

“I just think you’re being a bully,” whispers Changkyun with his lips in a full pout. Too bad Changkyun is bad at whispering, which leads to Kihyun standing abruptly and sauntering over to both Changkyun and Jooheon, slow steps but with a purpose. 

“You really don’t want to stop, do you? You want to make me angry?” Kihyun kneels, leans in just close enough that Changkyun gets slapped with an overwhelming smell of his favorite medicinal herb mixed with unfamiliar cologne, and takes a fistful of Changkyun’s hair before he yanks it like it’s a leash and Changkyun is his disobedient dog. “You want me to fuck your pretty face up tonight?”

Well damn, now Changkyun is aroused and afraid. He can only hope the warmth spreading over his cheeks isn’t too noticeable yet, maybe it looks like fear or anger on his skin, but Kihyun is literally right in his face and there’s no way it goes over his head. At least without notice. 

“What the hell?” Kihyun utters in disbelief. “Are you getting excited ‘bout this? Do you like me threatening you or some shit? Hey, Jooheon what the fuck do they call it? When, when someone likes being hurt?” Kihyun releases the hair, and his face lights up at the way Changkyun relaxes again like he’s never seen anything quite like it. Like he wants to see it again. And boy would Changkyun just love-

Jooheon’s head snaps up from his lap and he shrieks at the proximity between the two of them, throwing his arms around Changkyun from behind and pulling him back just enough that he feels they’re both safe. “It’s called a masochist!” Jooheon proceeds to yell in response. “They like it when people hurt them!”

Pleased with this answer, Kihyun laughs from the pit of his stomach and reaches a hand over Changkyun’s head.

Changkyun yelps, he already sees it coming, already feels the slap before it lands against his skin, and squeezes his eyes shut when he braces for it. Why he’s so scared of something like this, he doesn’t know, because the most threatening thing this man has done so far is holding his hair at the roots. 

What he does know is that when Kihyun’s warm palm lands in his jungle of hair and ruffles it slightly, all of the tension leaves his body and he relaxes against the hand like a kitten begging for attention, despite Jooheon tugging him back.

Changkyun is a dog one second, and a cat the next.

“Heh. Kinda cute,” he mutters with this mischievous smirk, and then louder. “You owe me money, Lee, and I’m expecting it in full by the end of this week. Or else I’ll come back for you... and this fool.”

Kihyun’s warmth is gone in seconds, though his scent lingers. And Changkyun is still too lost in the feeling of having soft fingers massage his scalp that he doesn’t see the dangerous glare cross Kihyun’s face before he stomps past their quivering bodies and his little henchmen follow. Changkyun only begins to hear the sound of shoes shuffling over the floor when Jooheon violently shakes him out of his daze.

“What DID YOU DO?!” Jooheon shakes him like a soda he’s wanting to watch explode, “What did you do, what did you do, fuck, Changkyun, what did you DO!”

The stars look really lovely in Changkyun’s vision while Jooheon shakes him as if he is a snowglobe and his snow falls too fast before it floats. It’s nice, or at least Changkyun thinks so until he gets the sudden urge to barf over the banister and down into the now-empty club that KIhyun’s goons cleared out in minutes with an announcement over the intercom about the police coming after some imaginary fight broke out. 

Of course, a bunch of drunk/and/or high college students would flee. Changkyun is one of those people, even if it doesn’t sound very believable while he’s still very much sober. He would’ve been the first to run out of here, tail between his legs.

Jooheon’s fingers are cutting into his bone, and exactly what just happened hits him harder than a sack of wet laundry. In a little breeze of time, an entire night of profits for Jooheon have flown out the window, evident in the amount of unpaid-for drinks still littering the counter. Even if Jooheon wanted to continue business as usual, the only person still hanging around is his sorry excuse of a bartender scrolling on his phone.

When they descend the stairs the air is heavy. Changkyun wants to say his knees hurt, he’s never spent that much time on them before, but Jooheon is prancing around the bar counter cursing and drinking the contents of several lipstick-stained cups, using the side that is still clear so it’s obvious nobody has left their germs there.

“I’m screwed. Fuck me. No, wait, fuck you.” Jooheon points accusingly at Changkyun. “Help me drink some of these. I’m not about to waste this much liquor because your dumbass decided to piss off one of the scariest thugs in town.”

“Huh, what’d he do?” Hoseok wheezes through a laugh, as he too reaches for a cup and downs the fruity contents in one mouthful. “Offer to suck his dick or something? That is his favorite thing to do.”

Jooheon wails, throws his body halfway over the counter and just wails like the world is ending and he is the only siren that can announce everyone’s doom. His feet flail behind him, his arms reaching out for Hoseok. “This fucking bastard, he, he -”

Changkyun crosses his arms over his chest with a pout, angered that Hoseok was so correct, but even angrier when he watches how Hoseok comforts Jooheon with his fingers loosely massaging that platinum-dyed scalp, staring fondly at his distressed friend. “It’s not my fault you owe him money.” Changkyun huffs.

Hoseok has never, not once, looked at Changkyun with such soft twinkling eyes, or caressed him so gently with quiet words of praise. So excuse him for being so jealous.

But it only gets worse when Jooheon stares him down, eyes bloodshot from all the tears. “I borrowed money to stay alive. Not to be murdered brutally in my own establishment.” 

Changkyun hangs his head even while loudly declaring, “I’ll pay you back tenfold! No, twelve-fold! Nobody is dying on my watch.”

He’s already halfway out the set of double doors when Jooheon sobs, “He’s so stupid, so…”

***

The last five days have been hell for the Changkyun that promised to pay his platinum-haired friend back. On top of already failing all of his classes, because he promised to pay Jooheon back he decided to pick up extra shifts at his new two part-time jobs, one of which he’d already had a long time before now but only worked on weekends. 

He doesn’t remember what his roommate Hyungwon looks like, doesn’t remember if he even has eyelids anymore, are they dark? Do they block out the light? What good are eyelids in the first place?

Evenings and nights he works in a kitchen scrubbing dishes until they squeak so loud the sound almost breaks all of the glass in the vicinity, instead of hanging around Jooheon’s club and being envious of how Hoseok treats literally everyone but him.

During the mornings before his boring psychology lecture that he sleeps all the way through so there’s no real reason he should still be going to it, he works in a small cafe that smells less like freshly roasted coffee, and more like diabetes on a stick, since the owner mostly only finds joy in making overpriced sweet treats.

Though he’s on the brink of hallucinating his entire existence, he can’t make up the fact that every time he rounds a corner, or he looks up from behind the counter at work, there’s a man in some flashy hideous suit watching him with horrendously gelled hair, a piece of actual straw between his teeth. 

Now on the first day he thought it was okay, just some strange dude who took a liking to him after seeing him for the first time, but five days in and he’s starting to worry. It’s always a different man, though they all tend to leave him the largest tips without ordering anything more than a coffee that they do not drink.

So Changkyun is worried. He’s worried out of his wits. Every single night when he leaves work he’s clutching his phone to his chest and tiptoeing to the bus stop, like walking stealthily is going to prevent anyone from murdering him in cold blood. 

And at first, it seems to work. At first he makes it home without issue, after mouse-walking around his neighborhood three times just to shake anyone that might be following him, and when he gets home much after midnight an energetic well-rested Hyungwon (turns out he does remember this kid) raises a perfectly trimmed eyebrow.

“You’ve got to stop letting Minhyuk drug you every single night like this,” Hyungwon sighs, and then returns to flipping through the channel on their pizza-box-sized television that neither of them can see from their beds because it’s so small, which explains why he’s sitting on the floor in front of it. “You’re a ghost of your former self at this point. A spirit living in someone else’s home.”

Changkyun collapses on his bed, folds like a piece of money in the center and wraps his arms around his torso, and then a thought comes to mind and he looks at the back of his roommates messy head of bubblegum pink hair like a totally imaginary lightbulb is emerging from the center. “You know a lot about the crime in this city.”

“My dad is the chief of police, so yeah. Not like I want to know exactly what happens to most abductees during their time in captivity, but here I am, scared of strange men in the city at night.” Hyungwon switches the TV off and scoots around on the floor until they are making eye contact. “Something tells me you don’t want to know that though?”

“No, ugh” Changkyun shudders, “Don’t really… Wanna know any of that… So like, what about the big time gangsters in town? You guys would know right?”

“Um, Changkyun if we knew that, there would be no ‘big time gangsters in town’,” 

“No, but like there are corrupt cops too, right?”

“Are you insinuating that my dad is a corrupt cop?” Hyungwon’s plump upper lip curls in disgust and he reaches under the bed for his dull katana his grandfather gave him as an ill-advised gift about twenty solid years ago, which is one of the many reasons the family no longer communicates with him. Who gives a four old a katana? Why. “I’ll kill you right now for that type of insinuation.”

“Hyungwon that damned katana secretes dust at this point. What I’m asking is technically speaking, someone there would know a big-time gangster, right? Like you guys have a list of wanted criminals that just keep eluding the law?”

Hyungwon nods, and then his eyes twinkle in the way that they do when he’s thinking about all of the stuff he overhears at family dinners on the weekend. “Yeah there’s a list alright, it’s really freaking short too, especially because the biggest crime most people commit is jaywalking.” he pauses so he can concentrate on the exact details. 

“But the top two names are a Kim Namjoon, and a Yoo Kihyun. They both breezed into town about a year and a half ago doing some petty drug trades that have slowly escalated, and instead of fighting over turf they’ve kind of peacefully coexisted, maybe because they’re from the same organization? My dad doesn’t exactly know anything. They have never been captured. Not once. And slowly they ended up with their own gangs? I mean what do criminals refer to themselves as? I think it’s derogatory to just call a group of misfit thugs a gang,”

Changkyun nods his head along like he’s listening to every single thing (he is not) until he hears Kihyun’s name, and his entire body shakes with this instinctual fear, like a leaf on a tree. “Yoo Ki- Ugh, did you say Yoo Kihyun?”

“Yes, and apparently he’s quite the charmer.” Hyungwon bounces up and down excitedly and then pulls his Katana out of the sheath with a loud clinking sound. “You know, we descended from a rebel faction. My grandad was a criminal. Maybe he has ties with the Yoo family or the Kim family, wouldn’t that be so cool?”

Changkyun buries his face in his pillow and cries as loud as he knows the dorms will allow without getting a strike on their record.

“Oh Chang, don’t cry, I’m sorry. I won’t actually kill you. I love your stupid self.” Hyungwon whispers reassuringly, followed by the sound of his katana sliding back into the sheath and then being shoved under the bed with force. “If you die what will I do? I’ll die too. We’ll both die. Lovers suicide, without the love. No, wait, with bro love. Cause I love you, bro.”

Funny that Hyungwon should mention dying, because Changkyun is being stalked by one of the top-two wanted men in their nice city, and he’s probably going to be swimming with the fishes soon. 

Hyungwon doesn’t need to know any of this. Not his sweet innocent roommate with his cheeks so pink it looks like he has pennies stuffed in them, not with the way this boy smiles like Changkyun being his friend is a gift from the skies itself. 

Also his tendency to break out the katana when anything even slightly upsets him. He needs to work on that one. Nobody wants to put up with something like that. 

Changkyun thinks it’s kind of cute, kind of cool. But knowing Hyungwon he might get both of them killed with that thing. 

***

If anyone knows about the seedy parts of town it would be Lee Minhyuk, Changkyun’s best dealer friend, and the college campus ‘Man’ which oddly just means he dabbles in a bit of everything, not just synthetically created drugs. 

You need your WIFI fixed? Okay grandma, let’s just reset it! What about your dog being sick (the one you’ve secretly kept in the dorm somehow) well he took veterinary classes at some point in his life, it’s cause you’ve been giving it a different type of food. 

Hungover? Cured. Teachers adore him because one week of being tutored by him and you’re a model student (note: not all of those study sessions include actual studying, at least not the kind that strays from the admiration of the human body and all the different ways it can bend.) Hair job gone wrong? He has three older sisters, he knows what the hell he’s doing, so don’t run from his scissors-in-one-hand straightening-iron-in-the-other, even if he looks like a deranged villain with his eyes bugging out of his skull.

If Changkyun had a very good thought process, he would’ve known Minhyuk isn’t solely producing the supplements that he sells, he’s a busy man who never sits in one place for much too long, but Changkyun is stupid, and that is how we ended up here.

“Minny my baby, how do you make your drugs?” Changkyun coos as he is leaning over the edge of Minhyuk’s bed trying to get a good look at whoever he’s been rapid-texting for the last ten minutes.

Without missing a beat he sighs dramatically. “You know I’m not gonna tell you that.”

 

“Not even if we’re best friends?”

 

“Not even if we’re best friends.”

Changkyun rolls over on his side and gazes up at the ceiling expressionlessly. “Maybe I should start selling drugs too. There’s this guy, um, Kihyun or something, and he wants to kill me and Jooheon by the end of the week? Anyway, I sorta owe Jooheon money, who owes Kihyun money. So I need to make money urgently.”

MInhyuk’s head of pastel blue hair pops up over the edge, his eyes are wide and his breathing erratic. Against the creamy caramel of the sheets on Minhyuk's bed, Changkyun finds it's much too hard to focus when an image so bold and so different is sitting right there in front of him. So breathtaking. Like the deep blue contacts he is wearing is the sky over a dry unforgiving desert plain. “What the hell did you do?”

“Whoa! Jooheon borrowed money from him, I did nothing wrong!” Changkyun shoots back just as quickly, trying to hide his annoyance that everyone thinks it’s his fault, especially because if he goes off on Minhyuk he might not be able to figure out what he came here for.

“Okay, no, Changkyun. I said what did _you_ do. Not what Jooheon did. Borrowing money doesn't put you on the chopping block.” Minhyuk types a quick reply on his phone barely glancing down to confirm the message is comprehensible. “Yoo isn’t so cruel that he’d kill one of his old classmates either.”

 

Changkyun scoots closer to Minhyuk, his entire body heating up in excitement, and fear, but the curiosity trumps all of that. “Repeat that again? Old classmates?”

Minhyuk’s dark and oddly shaven brows scrunch together in confusion and he says it like it’s matter of factly. “Yeah. Everyone knows not to fuck with Jooheon, I’m just taking a jab at this but he’s strictly hands off. Either they’re lovers or old classmates. Nobody really knows but, nobody fucks with Jooheon.”

Changkyun slides much closer now, their faces almost touching, and the disappointment weighing down on his bones. “I thought you were gonna tell me something new. It was obvious to me that Jooheon had some type of connection to him, otherwise there would’ve been no reason for Jooheon to get so excited when he came. Or to end up physically getting hurt by that sicko.”

Understanding dawns on Minhyuk’s soft lovely features and he smiles before reaching over to ruffle Changkyun’s hair. “You offered to beat his ass because of that huh?”

“Close.” he sighs, “I offered to suck him off after I threatened him.”

 

“Ahhhh. Only in Changkyun land is that even remotely close.” Minhyuk grimaces gazes at the wall for a long time to steady himself, and then he turns back and pats the space on the bed in front of Changkyun. “You’re definitely gonna die. But if you wanna know more about them then maybe you should, dunno, ask?”

Changkyun nods his head eagerly and then whips his phone out and texts Jooheon that he’s coming over to, you know, mess with him. 

****

Jooheon lives in a surprisingly good neighborhood. Changkyun already knew this, but it really hits him full swing as he’s walking down the sidewalk and the elderly man in the trench coat that stops him isn’t trying to flash or sell him any drugs, but is instead handing out a flyer for a community barbeque that weekend that you don’t have to be a resident to attend. 

Changkyun is still tensed up and clutching the little flyer when the man walks away grinning ear to ear, prepared to have wrinkled nude skin ingrained in his memory for the rest of the day.

Jooheon lives in an apartment building that towers by a few floors Changkyun never thought to check because the front entrance is so nice and cool, the lady at the desk always offers him candy (she also asks if he wants to see her office because she has a lot of ‘toys’ which is kind of predatory and makes him feel slightly uncomfortable). Anyway, he always forgets to check the number of floors when he gets into the elevator. Trying to escape.

Even today it crosses his mind only after he’s stepping out of the lift into the bright corridor and skip-hopping the rest of the way to get to Jooheon’s place.

It is worth noting that Jooheon replied to his text about forty-five minutes ago saying “PLS don’t!!!!!” but Changkyun doesn’t believe in mercy and he’s already wasted train fare so he continues on his journey with the same mindset that he’d had when MInhyuk suggested the simple solution to all of his questions: Asking.

Changkyun only came here once when Jooheon had a package being dropped off and the front desk would be closed by the time he got off work so he asked Changkyun to pick it up for him. Even then he was extremely reluctant to tell Changkyun the address like the package would magically will itself into Changkyun’s grasp without any further explanation.

Changkyun knocks lightly at first, and then he’s just hammering his fist against the door trying to replicate the Super Mario Brothers theme song, accompanied by some weird breathy sounds and random whistles.

The door flies open and, shit, Changkyun doesn’t realize it until his fist flies straight into the very meaty and very naked chest of Kihyun Yoo. He’s wearing nothing but a pair of navy boxer briefs, there are few random and seemingly misplaced tattoos on his chest and stomach. On his chest is a black bird with little red eyes spreading its massive wings over the majority of his chest. Changkyun is trying to take mental note of all of the tattoos, but he can’t help to stare at that one more than the rest.

Somehow he forgot his fist was still lodged into that very same chest. In Kihyun’s chest. In a very sleepy looking, agitated, scowling Kihyun. Thanks Satan, but it's not even Christmas yet.

His fist falls limply at his side and he inconspicuously checks the door plate to confirm it is apartment 807. “I must have the wrong door,” he says blankly, trying to keep himself together without absolutely shitting his pants from the intensity of that gaze. It is definitely the right door.

Kihyun’s eyes turn into little slits when he glares at the offending fist still being made with Changkyun’s hand, “What the fuck you doing here?”

Changkyun swallows something so thick he can swear it’s his tongue. “Came to see Jooheon.” he answers with an unpleasant shiver.

“He’s not here, alright? So go home.”

“Okay,” is what Changkyun should’ve said, what any good samaritan and human being would’ve said, but when he's scared his brain usually short circuits, and instead he yells a bit too loud straight into Kihyun's face: “Are you guys FUCKING?”

Kihyun blinks once, twice. Three times, and then he leans slightly out the door and slaps Changkyun so gently across the face. 

**********

Jooheon fits the role of a domestic home-body perfectly well. When Changkyun enters the apartment (more like forcibly yanked through the door by Kihyun after explosively yelling like that,) Jooheon has just finished getting dressed. Much like Kihyun, he is only wearing a pair of boxers paired with a simple white shirt. He looks like he probably didn’t sleep, and Changkyun’s imagination runs wild with reasons why.

“No. Stop that.” Jooheon cringes, his entire face scrunched up in disgust. “Changkyun I am serious, stop it now. I don’t know what strange idea you have in your head about me and Kihyun but I can confirm that it’s very far off from the truth.”

Changkyun feels tears welling in the corners of his eyes. Jooheon hasn’t dusted this place in about a good sixty years, even the little bit of light pooling in here makes it look like they’ve either smoked the place up or have been living in a building long condemned by the state. “Oh Jooheon,” he coos pathetically, “You almost fit the role of good wife, if only you’d actually clean this place like one…”

Jooheon leans over the counter and slaps Changkyun in the same place that Kihyun did earlier. “What the actual fuck is going through your mind right now? Please. I need to know.”

“You’re Kihyun’s mistress. His lover. He comes around once a week and you bang and then he leaves you alone because he doesn’t believe in commitment.”

Jooheon’s gaze is sorrowful as he watches Changkyun. At first, it looks like he’s too sad to say anything, like Changkyun has hit the pitiful nail on the head and now all that’s left for him to do is be a good friend and listen to the long romantic tale about these two forbidden lovers. But then Jooheon waves him closer, closer, and slaps him a lot harder than the first two times. “Listen to me. You’re wrong.”

Kihyun exits the bedroom wearing a pair of blue jeans with holes in the knees, a plain blank shirt hanging on his shoulders but leaving his otherwise perfectly toned body on display for Changkyun’s mind to start single tracking to the last stop on today’s route: ultimate destruction. “But Jooheoonnn.” Changkyun whines loud enough for just the two of them. “If you aren’t fucking him, I will.”

“Nobody is fucking Kihyun,” Jooheon sighs in an attempt to hide his frustration. “You saw how excited he got at the prospect of you using your mouth for something other than jumping to conclusions and pissing people off? Did that look like the face of a man with a mistress?”

Kihyun approaches them at the right moment that he only hears the last part, and still has no idea they are talking about him in particular.

Jooheon assumes that it may be because he has nothing but stupid friends on all fronts. Pathetic, gay, stupid friends. On the one hand, it is innocently stupid Changkyun that would jump out of a plane without a parachute fully believing the clouds would break his fall.

And on the other, there is Kihyun, the stupid one full of lust and bad ideas brought on by it. The way he looks at Changkyun isn’t how he should be looking at someone that was such a fool and made so many foolish comments in front of his men, but his eyes are much softer and his teeth are visible in a smile to show that he is almost harmless.

And for a second to Jooheon, it is frighteningly convincing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm planning a massive update for all of my works to apologize for not posting as frequently.
> 
> I think it should be done between the 15th and the 20th.  
> thank you for reading! now sleep!


	3. A DRAFT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the original draft of this story included this bit. I decided to publish it as an apology for not updating in so long. 
> 
> my mom just passed away on the 2nd of November from brain cancer after fighting it over 10yrs and she was honestly my biggest inspiration as she would let me read some of my things to her and give honest feedback.
> 
>  
> 
> so that is not me making excuses. I hope I'm able to produce some new things before the year ends because I know that all she wanted from me was to see me become a published author, doing what I love most and getting paid for it. <3
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you guys and please enjoy! also it's a major spoiler for the direction of the story to come! <3

DRAFT. DRAFT. DRAFT ::::::::

“I like being tied up anyway." Changkyun mumbles sullenly as one of the bodyguard guys with a false tooth in the front of his mouth tightens the hold of the ropes and shoves him to keep him moving. 

How did he end up here? Well, it's obvious that even though his tongue works him into all different kinds of situations, it almost never works him out of them. Surprisingly enough Jooheon _isn't_ tied up, and he's somehow found the time to clean up his bloodied face amidst all this action. 

Jooheon is kind of just awkward zombie shuffling beside Changkyun with a guilty look on his face. Before long he replies with a little bit of snark, as they make their way down the only back-hallway in the club Changkyun is unfamiliar with. “You should've never come up there. I can deal with my own family affairs just fine, thank you.”

"Family…? Oh. Cause it's a gang, right? You're in a gang?" Changkyun snickers like he's cracked the secret to old age and turns to look at Kihyun, who is sitting in front of him resting his chin in his palms, elbows on the knees while he watches Changkyun and Jooheon approach him slowly, glides his tongue over his already pink dampened lips. Changkyun’s thoughts run rampant _Looks delicious._

Jooheon smacks him on the back of the neck and sighs, he can't hear his friends thoughts but he has his suspicions. “No. I'm not in a gang. He's my real brother, like, we have the same father and everything. We were raised in different homes, but we grew up around each other in the end.”

"Jooheon you're so cute." Changkyun immediately replies with a crooked smile. “There's no way the two of you are brothers. The only thing you have in common is looking incredibly harmless.”

“Says the man in shackles."

“These are ropes, shackles have a different intensity--. It's not the first time an attractive man has tied me up before. It's certainly kinky, I'll give ‘em that.” Changkyun lets out an excited shaky breath before continuing. “And how does that even relate to what I said?”

Jooheon snorts despite the seriousness of the situation, and hides his dimples behind his hands. Once they finally come to a stop in front of Kihyun, Jooheon falls down to his knees and begs once again for Changkyun’s pitiful life to be spared, except this time he holds his head high in a less pleading tone. “It won’t happen again,” Jooheon assures with a hand resting over his own heart. “I’ll keep better control over him, I’ll _train him_. The next time you see him he’ll be such a good boy.”

Changkyun joins him on the floor, bouncing on his knees from the incredible imbalance of having his hands restrained behind him.

“There’s no need for that. Of course, he has to pay for all the shit he talked, but I won’t get my hands dirty tonight, and you shouldn't either. If I wanted him to be a good boy, I’d train him myself.” Kihyun laughs while he waves a hand dismissively, though it all seems kind of focused on Changkyun from the start and sinister as hell. “He’s got no idea about the family? You never told him?”

Jooheon scratches the back of his neck in sly avoidance, face reddening from the question out of embarrassment or anger, something of the sort. “I don’t see why I would have to, he’s just one of my regular customers... “

“Oh. He’s not…. You guys aren’t a thing?” Kihyun looks kind of hopeful, his eyes glistening in the lighting of the back room in the club Changkyun never even knew existed until tonight. The couches that line the wall look cheap and used, dark burgundy leather you can tell is fake from how it peels and exposes the yellow-orange fluffy pillow foam on the inside. “Tell me now, Jooheon. I've never seen you beg for a man's life. What's going on between you two?”

There are no pictures, no decor back here. A glass coffee table is the centerpiece of the room, fingerprints line the sharp square edges. Nothing but stale air and dark grimy carpets, wallpaper crusty, peeling in the corners; water damage in the middle of the ceiling. 

This is the darkest side of Jooheon. The side he shouldn’t know exists. This room is full of nothing. Full of everything. Full of secrets. 

 

“He’s a pervert.” Jooheon gestures toward the way Changkyun is pushing his thighs close together to hide his excitement at having his hands bound behind him with rope so tight it cuts into his skin. “When I first met him I thought he was cute, out of my league, and sane. But two of those things have been proven wrong several times already.”

“I am out of your league, that’s the only thing you had right.” Changkyun nods his head eagerly in agreement, flashing the most charming smile that he can muster, intent on doing one thing tonight; getting laid. 

By a big bad wolf, too. 

Changkyun realizes what he’s getting himself into by smiling innocently at Kihyun, he knows he gets caught every time he sneaks glances at Kihyun’s lips or his crotch because he holds his gaze there long enough wondering how big it is since it’s playing hide-and-seek right now, but he’s always triumphant at games like these because he never gives up. 

He even takes note of how Kihyun is analyzing him too, staring down the curves of his body while he’s sitting there on his knees with his mouth slightly ajar, Changkyun knows it’s a beautiful sight, it’s his money-making face after all, and he is living for how Kihyun lets the smirk rise in the corner of his lips before he continues talking to Jooheon.

“I think he looks pretty good on his knees,” Kihyun replies, sliding his palms over his thighs. 

“Uhh." Jooheon glances over at Changkyun like this needs to be confirmed like Changkyun isn't absolutely breathtaking in his oversized sweater, and then he looks back at Kihyun with the straightest face ever when he says, “No disrespect- he looks like a lost little boy waiting for his parents… “


	4. Unaccompanied Minors.

“Hey, idiot.” Changkyun mumbles, his face sleepily pressed against the sleek marble counter for the last… Hour or so? The perception of time easily gets lost when you feel betrayed. And he's been betrayed by a lot of people in his life lately, specifically the men. As a matter of fact, one of them is standing in front of him, eating ramen and preparing a cup of tea for him simultaneously. Stupid muscled idiot. 

Hoseok glances up from where he's typing on his phone like he can feel Changkyun side-eyed-glaring in his direction, the red-white logo of Tinder spirals in his eyes, looking for the next victim in his long line of people that thought he could be committed in a relationship while he's just looking for a consistent booty call. “Yes, babe?” he says in response, which is surprisingly so Hoseok-like that Changkyun can't even take it as flirting. 

“You were in school with Jooheon or something, right?” Hoseok hums an affirmative in reply, swiping right on every profile that passes his vision, and that gives Changkyun the green light to carry on. “You ever saw him with any attractive delinquents?”

“Jooheon is… Ya know they say that you are the company that you keep. He hung out with a lot of questionable people, but he never got in trouble and always made good grades so I don't see why you're bringing it up now.”

Changkyun sits up and squints at Hoseok accusingly, his brow knitting close together, confusion digging into old wounds he thought he'd been given plenty of time to heal. Spits it out of his mouth like soggy tobacco. “You think Jooheon is attractive?”

A smile threatens to creep onto his stupidly handsome face, but seeing the way Changkyun glares at him, he swallows it down. “He is, isn't he? You don't think so?” then he whistles low, “So is that other fella that's been hanging around lately. Wonder if he bottoms…?”

Changkyun sighs. He knows exactly who Hoseok is talking about, and the very thought makes him weaker than he’s been in weeks. “What even is your type? You act like a dog in heat.”

Hoseok looks up to the ceiling and exposes his neck, free of hickeys for the first time Changkyun has ever been able to witness, much to his surprise. It takes a while for him to choose his next set of words, but he smiles when he does, like he knows he's made the right decision. “You are. Haven't you noticed? You've got those dark eyes, dimples, and a voice that lulls me to sleep.”

“Yah Jooheon has all of those too. You really aren’t making a good argument for yourself.”

“Never wanted to fuck Jooheon on my counter before though. You think that’s a good enough excuse?” Hoseok smacks the countertop very hard for emphasis and then resumes victim-hunting on his phone. “And besides! I never stopped liking you. We just went our separate ways. You know I'm always ready and willing to rekindle the flame. Any night.”

All of the men in his life disappoint. All of them.

******

Yet he keeps going back to them. 

It's around closing time when he brushes in through the doors of the bar after leaving Hoseok’s place, deciding the streets had to be safer for his health than all of that dangerous flirting blowing in from Hoseok Town. Seriously. If he was still a Hoseok Virgin, then Hoseok might’ve been able to convince him that the sky was green and his pants needed to be around his ankles because of it. Because science. Or something stupid, that Hoseok-Virgin Changkyun would've readily believed. 

Jooheon only absently glances up from where Kihyun is stood beside him flipping through the earnings from the night, another man right beside him, writing things down in a notebook. Then his head snaps back up and his jaw drops. 

When Jooheon’s eyes land on Changkyun they soften in recognition, and he nudges Kihyun slightly with his elbow to draw his attention. “We have company,” he mumbles just loud enough for the few of them, though it startles Kihyun into dropping the suspiciously large wad of money. 

“Flipping fucks Jooheon, you should've locked the door-” but then his eyes soften too, and his voice dies down a little in his throat, replaced with this sort of… A very apologetic, sad sorta look. 

Changkyun may be making things up in his head due to his own delusional attraction, but he'll take what he can get, so he smiles and waves slightly. “Wow, can't believe I really, thought Jooheon was such an innocent little baby.”

The third unnamed man slams his book shut, squinting at Changkyun's hunched over figure in the door. “Who is this kid? I told you guys, no fucking outsiders-” the man huffs, and the tension in his shoulders builds. He almost looks uncomfortable sitting straight like that, but Changkyun guesses it's only to be intimidating, and the fact that it works is shocking. 

Just like Jooheon this man has a soft kind face, his cheeks are squishy and doughy, but when he attempts clenching his jaw the seedlings of dimples can be seen on the surface. His hair is partly styled away from his face, a soft black undercut with dusty gray tips. His suit is neat and pressed, a pair of plain black spectacles hang out of his breast pocket of the jacket, (upon further inspection, there's a gold trimming on the inner part, and somewhere etched into the side is a name brand that makes Changkyun financially ache just thinking about it.) 

“Relax, relax,” Jooheon says slowly, like sounding it out, like a demand. “This guy is one of the best in the business now.”

“Yeah?” the man eyes Changkyun unsurely and then turns to Kihyun for confirmation. 

Kihyun nods slightly, but his eyes are glued on Changkyun's run-or-be-swallowed-whole posture. Otherwise known as the fight or flight instincts. Changkyun is quite stupid, so he stays rooted in place the whole time. “Yeah.” Kihyun echoes, a hand over his mouth with outstretched fingers; shiny silver rings adorning each one. “He's just here to get his share of the money.”

“So finish counting it.” the man glances at Changkyun one last time before opening the book up again, resuming his scribbling of hard-to-decipher notes. He names a few different people in the same sentence with some absurd prices, like brands you'd buy in a store. He says something soft that Changkyun has to scurry closer to hear, even though his body says go. “Can't believe this happened again. How you guys manage to fuck over my profits and still call a truce in the end.”

“We produce the same things, how are we fucking over your profits? Is it because you keep using synthetic shit and ours is the real deal?” Kihyun snaps, and then lower to Jooheon he says “take him on a walk,” when he sees Changkyun approaching them in curiosity. Like a dog. A command. 

Jooheon stands a little straighter with this purpose in mind, and loops arms with Changkyun to steer him back outside into the slightly chilly night air. Once outside, he smiles, one of those genuine toothy Jooheon smiles that makes Changkyun melt because of the rarity and because of the warmth. “How have you been doing lately?”

“Nice try, but I just left your house like seven hours ago. Still feel like shit”

“Seven hours too many,” Jooheon tells him shyly, kicking at a pebble but missing it entirely. “Figured you'd feel a little better. More forgiving. I dunno.”

“You were my hero man. Had planned to-” Changkyun sucks in a thick breath and forced what may or may not be pathetic sobs back down his throat. “I mean I'd planned to get out of school and do something like this. It was fucking amazing seeing you struggle on your ass but always managing to keep this place running.”

Jooheon stops and stares at the small building. It's his, small and falling apart in awkward places, but his nonetheless. “Yeah, that's because none of that dirty money goes into it. I genuinely maintained this spot with my own hard earnings. My brother… He came sometime after things started getting bad. Let me borrow some money, and the only way to pay that back and keep my place was…”

“But wow. You fucking let me down in the end, you know?” Changkyun grits his teeth at the end, half expecting Jooheon to just punch him square in the face right then and there. “Always preaching to me about hanging around Minhyuk when you were no better.”

“I preached to you about Minhyuk because I know Minhyuk. Er, I know of him. And he's no good. He'd probably sell your organs on the black market if you fall asleep around him.”

Changkyun sighs and slips one hand out of his pocket to pat Jooheon on the back, slow but firm. “Jooheon that man took my anal virginity. Believe it or not, I've slept around him lots of times. Sometimes while he was still in-”

“No! I don't care! Point is, he's a bastard, and I don't want you getting wrapped up in the things that he does on the streets, okay? Just like I didn't want you getting involved with me. And Kihyun. And me. And you… Oh, oh God, I'm gonna make myself sick thinking about you and Minhyuk sharing the same man.”

“Haven't even touched Kih… Wait what?”

“Kihyun has dabbled in the pretty face department quite a lot, alright? Hoseok is lucky he doesn't bottom because that's the only thing holding Kihyun back at this point.”

“But Hoseok does bottom. Just rarely. The mood has to be right and he needs to be talked into it.” Changkyun realizes a little bit too late that the moment they start talking about Hoseok, Jooheon’s powder-like skin turns dusty and pink from a slight blush. 

Jooheon clears his throat loudly, but this, in turn, makes his voice crack into a stutter when he speaks again, “I-I don't care about that. Anyway, Kihyun doesn't trust Minhyuk, so I don't trust Minhyuk. So you shouldn't trust Minhyuk either.” 

“Your brother breezes into town right when you're suffering the most and now suddenly he knows everything that's best for you? Why I'd…” Changkyun's anger fizzles out into nothingness, and he just pulls Jooheon into a not-awkward full-bodied embrace, because they're both grown men with attractions completely outside of each other, so it's perfectly okay when he buries his face into Jooheon’s neck and sighs. “If I want to befriend Minhyuk and fuck Kihyun, you totally can't stop me. You know that, right? And keeping secrets from me about your personal life does nothing but hurt me more, okay?” Jooheon nods, the action makes Changkyun's head bob up and down too. “I almost thought I was gonna have to find another club to go to because you pissed me off so bad. Just randomly blurting that he's your brother. Ugh.”

With a mortified pause, Changkyun finishes his speech with: “And oh fuck. I thought you two were fucking.”

Jooheon laughs, but it sounds too painful to be considered genuine. “Well since the secret is out, that night when you walked upstairs I had to get creative to hide the fact that I tripped and fell face first into the top stair. So to clear the air, no, my brother is not insanely abusive towards me. At least not as much as I am to myself.”

 

When they make it back to the club Kihyun is slumped over the counter with his head in his hands, breathing so shallow it's hard to discern whether he's actually breathing or not until they're right up on him, and his body shudders through every breath unnaturally. 

“Fuck fuck fuck,” he mutters after listening for sounds of their approach. "Jooheon you need to learn to keep your friends in their cages at home. That almost blew everything for us.”

“Hi.” Changkyun responds faster than Jooheon’s hushed: “I didn't know he was coming.”

“Ugh! He's still here?” Kihyun swivels around on the barstool and eyes Changkyun from head to toe, the annoyance and tension in his body fades as quick as that, and some sort of semblance of a smirk dares to cross his face. “He's still here. Good.”

“I'm sorry.” Jooheon huffs. “When you said to take him on a walk I thought you meant like a dog, not murder.”

Changkyun startles then, as he's hopping up onto the barstool on Kihyun’s right side, deciding it's a better idea to keep his feet planted just in case he has to, um, run for his life. “Excuse me?”

Kihyun laughs too. Shows all of his teeth when he does, so much that there's a little bit of silver peeking from the very back of his mouth. Even as he begins talking again, Changkyun stares at it in awe. “Our definition of ‘take out’ must be very different then. At least when it comes to our Changkyun.”

“Our?” Jooheon raises his eyebrows animatedly. “He was mine first, okay. But I don't even want to know what you mean by it.”

“Okay! As much as I love having two hot men arguing over who I belonged to first, I actually need to get home. .” Changkyun claps his hands over the counter, a sound which travels a lot more since the club is empty except for the three of them. Also, it's an excuse. Also, he fears for his life. And his sanity. And if Kihyun keeps giving him _that_ hooded look, he's gonna end up buck naked on the counter, regardless of Jooheon’s presence. 

“Ahhh alright. We were getting ready to head out too.” Jooheon says, but Kihyun talks directly over him and says, opposite of Jooheon’s plans, “Do you want to have a drink before you go?”

Ah. Fuck. 

How can Changkyun say no to that man? How can he, when Kihyun has popped the top buttons on his shirt, he's wearing slacks and there's a leather jacket on the back of his chair. Just imagine him in that. Changkyun is melting. Maybe Kihyun can sense it happening, because he guides a hand to the small of Changkyun's back and nudges him closer to the counter he's been white-knuckled gripping for dear life since he got close enough to it. 

Even Jooheon shakes his head inconspicuously, a silent plea. Please don't say yes. Please don't say yes. Please don't say yes. 

 

Changkyun says yes. 

Jooheon drops his head on the counter so hard and fast, it seems he loses consciousness for a brief moment, hoping, praying even. He does not want to witness any of what's about to unfold. Whatever it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Happy holidays guys, whatever it is any of you celebrate, I hope this small and unedited chapter brings a bit of warmth to you all in this cold season, unless you live where it's warm and sunny, then fuck off please i can literally feel the cold on my eyeballs every time I blink. 
> 
> as always, I hope to see you all again very soon! maybe even on Christmas? (winking with both eyes at my readers. wink wink. nothing special to see here. wink.)

**Author's Note:**

> as always thanks for reading and I hope to see you guys again very soon! :)
> 
> "I took his crown of fire  
> and I crushed it  
> with my hands  
> I came, I saw, and  
> I conquered."


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